Happiness on Give Miami Day

So Wifey and I keep talking about the lessons from our class "How Happiness Thinks," which is not really revelatory, but rather more common sense. Another of the precepts of happiness is charity. The class taught us about studies that show charitable people really are happier, and live longer without as many health problems. It's nice to know, but charity just feels like the right thing, deep in our hearts. So last year some local folks came up with a nice idea, "Give Miami Day." They invited a bunch of charitable foundations to come together, online, and ask for a blitz of donations in a 24 hour period. Then they got some really big foundations, like the one started by the news magnate James L Knight, to agree to reward the foundations based on how they do. In reading about it, I learned for the first time that Kerri Heiken's family had started a foundation in her memory. Kerri, who would now be in her early 30s, was killed as a UF freshman, along with some of her Miami classmates, when the driver of the car she was in ran off the Turnpike on the way back to Gville after a weekend visit home. The incident has starred in my nightmares over the past 9 years, as the Ds traverse back and forth to UF. I'll hold my breath until next May, when D2 is set to graduate with her MS degree, and those hated trips will cease. Hated to me, by the way...the drive isn't so bad for the Ds... Anyway, Kerri's parents raise money and give away a scholarship each year to a South Florida high school grad who did well academically, but really soared in community service, like their beloved daughter did. So I was proud to help that effort yesterday, during the 24 hour push. Wifey found out, and added that we HAD to also give to Paws4You, a dog rescue outfit in South Dade. As we are a dog-philic and dog infested family, I complied. And then I gave one final gift, to Junior League of Miami. D1 joined a few years ago, and now is a leader. They do service, mostly for poor and abused women, and D1 leads the therapy dog section. She calls it her "WASPy" charity, as Junior League was traditionally the charity old "Miamuh" ladies did. D1 also volunteers in a Jewish charity -- just to keep balance. I received an email last night from the chapter president, who had a Hispanic rather than WASPy name, thanking me for the donation, and singing D1's praises. Her words were very charitable. And so this giving thing really works -- a bunch of us were made most happy yesterday, and hopefully some folks were helped.